If I Shave My Mustache, Hawaii Will Sink

Time lapse of me at 28 and 33.

Halfway through Movember and I am feeling pretty good.  I mean, at 33 years old, one would think that growing facial hair would be kind of an afterthought.  Keeping in mind I hit puberty around 28, this whole facial hair is new to me.  I had a pretty wicked pisser handlebar stache for the FLY photo in 2010, which is likely why there were no photos of me in the casual wear catalog that year.  That is likely one of the many reasons I wasn't asked back for the two subsequent shoots.  But seriously, my facial hair is a bit sparse, so I am fairly proud of what I have working right now.  I still have a solid 17 days of November left of grooming this baby into something that Tom Selleck would be proud of.

Tom Selleck is my facial hairowin.

I have been working quite a bit this week.  I feel spread pretty thin, however.  I can't really focus on one thing in particular, which is frustrating.  I spent a few hours on the tractor, putting some finishing touches on the new training area.  I am looking for some suggestion on what to name our new training facility, so if you have any good ones please submit to me for consideration.  If I choose your suggestion I will give you some shit that will blow your mind.  Promise.  My personal best thus far is The Moto Asylum, with the tag line "commit yourself".  I know, I am pretty awesome.  I am also upgrading our marketing proposal for Team Solitaire (read: me).  If you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and want to support the oldest guy in the Supercross Series, give me a call.  You may get some free perks from AARP or Good Sam travel vouchers for your next visit to Luby's Cafeteria.

My dog sleeps a lot.  She also smells a lot.  I will bathe her today.

Unamused by your shenanigans.

My kids and I have been having a lot of fun lately.  If you have kids, you can relate to just how amazing the little moments are.  Things like falling asleep while watching a movie on the couch, cuddling first thing in the morning, or cleaning up piss off the toilet seat.  Strike that last one.  They are also a lot more independent than ever, and this only leads me to believe that sooner than I am ready for, they will want to be at their friend's house rather than watch Despicable Me at home.  But for now, they are content playing in the backyard with broken beer bottles and dirty syringes.  Capricious youth.

I will leave you with something my dad used to always say to me, which has been my mantra over the last several days.  "All there is to it is to do it".  I am sure he stole that, the plagiarizing bastard, but it stuck with me.  Tomorrow I am buying a new Kawasaki KX450F from North Valley Kawasaki.  I am working on my Supercross track.  I am finishing this god forsaken proposal.  I am cuddling with my clean Boston Terrier.  I am updating my blog.

 Click this link to be dazzled by my performance in this video. 

I Didn't Say I Was Powerful, I Said I Was a Wizard

The last three weeks got away from me.  I am the first to admit that it didn't go exactly as planned.  The important stuff in life is grand.  My girlfriend is amazing (and very pregnant), my kids are the eternal holders of my heart and I am still feeling physically strong.  On the flip side, I am not amassing enough money to launch a serious push for 2012 Supercross or really begin to claw my way out of post-marital-monetary-debt.  I am also in mental purgatory.  I need to get a job to earn money to get to Supercross, but doing so would surely eliminate any chance I have at making Supercross my job.  It's a bit of a conundrum.  At this point I just have to believe in myself enough to go with my gut instinct, which tells me that if I just twist the throttle than all the other things will work themselves out.

My view over the last two weeks has looked like the photograph above.  I have spent many, many, many hours in everything from a Skid Steer to a Skip, a Water Truck to a Rubber Tire Loader.  I have built a new Arenacross track, rebuilt my Supercross track, pounded dozens of T-posts, set concrete poles, strung wire, graded roads and picked up trash.  All of this was done to improve our training compound in hopes of having a better facility to prepare for the rapidly approaching Anaheim 1.  The tracks are all but complete, the fencing is nearly congruent and the concrete for the new gate posts is set.  I am excited for this place, there is much potential.  Potential far beyond what I set out to create.

Vet Rider Clinic participants Chris Kelly and Michael Larance talk lines.

In between all day tractor sessions, I have been doing some group and private training sessions at Speedworld.  It is rewarding for me to see riders improve, especially when they may have been stuck in a bad habit that I was quickly able to correct.  Like anything, it takes consistent training and a lot of repetition to break bad habits, which is why I decided to focus on small group training as much as possible.  For $100 per month, you get two, three-hour small group sessions.  With continued training, we can address issues and keep focused on improvement throughout the year for a much more reasonable cost.  If you are interested in joining either the Vet or Young Rider group classes, please e-mail me at mxculture@yahoo.com.  We meet every other Thursday at Speedworld.

Colonel Clark commands his little sister's attention.

I will leave the best for last: my kids.  Although they wear me out, they also keep me grounded and focused on the future.  I realize how fortunate I am to have them, and how much motivation they give me to succeed.  Three years ago I loved them and enjoyed being their father, but I didn't exactly know what that meant.  Today, a little better for the wear, I understand the things they need from me as well as the things I get from them.  Every day I am thankful to know them and, hopefully, lead them toward their own successes (and failures). I am so excited to add to my family a new baby boy.    

I try to teach my children to reach for the moon.

Blood Blisters and Tongue Twisters

Justin Buckelew racing Arenacross a few years back.  Check out his website, www.motocrosscoach.com

The last several days have been a whirlwind of activity.  I don't want to bore you with the mundane shit, but life is comprised of mundane shit.  As I have been saying, most of my training has been off the bike up to this point, but the rain beckoned me to the desert on Wednesday for an impromptu shred session with my little minions Tristan and Tyler.  We had a lot of fun searching for jumps and trying to avoid getting incarcerated by the authorities.  The places we were riding were bordering subdivisions, and I am sure the trophy housewives and didn't want the CCV stickers on their SUV's to get dusted out by my MX71 roost.  Regardless, we traversed the area without incident, all the while finding new and interesting hip jumps, rut tracks and enduro sections to annihilate.

Someday kids, if you are the top privateer in SX and finish 4th in the World SX Championship, all this could be yours.

Early this morning I loaded up the Corolla/Trailer with my trusty steed and my two sleepy-eyed children to embark on this glorious day.  I dropped the grommets off at their respective learning institutions and punched the accelerator (which got me just over 54 mph) toward my learning institution.  Awaiting my arrival was Professor Justin Buckelew, along with two of his other pupils.  The track was pristine, as the recent rain coupled with the previous evenings open practice session left many a line and plenty of moisture.  After a good set of sprint motos on the MX track, we switched over to some off road riding.  Justin's students are preparing for a WORCS race, so they had laid out an off-road course for us to moto.  They were doing an hour moto, but I told JB I was only going 30 minutes.  I was having so much fun and feeling good at the pit stop, so I decided to double down and run the whole jalapeno.  Don't you agree that sounds better than enchilada?  Good, me too.  Anyway, I did it and now I am feeling it.  My hands are covered in blood blisters, but I am really happy to have put in some seat time.  I know I will be thankful come October, as I have some sizable events on my calendar.

Seamless transition from dirt bikes to roller skating...

Tonight I took the family to GreatSkate, an old-school roller rink, for my son's school skate party.  Both my kids did pretty well for their first (and hopefully last) time on roller skates.  Hey GreatSkate, 1982 called and they want their hobby back.  Nowadays we sit on the couch and gorge our faces while murdering people in video games and watch reality tv while complaining about the President and/or the state of the economy.  Oh, is that just me?  Capricious youth, how I miss thee.

Alright, that is enough information for one blog post.  Big days and weeks ahead.  Get to it.  RC

The Beginning of the End

View from the top of the ski ramp.

Overlooking Iron Mountain, Michigan.

There is so much that has happened in the last six months (the last time I updated this blog). In reality, there is so much that has happened in the last three years of my life that has changed me (for the better, at least that is what I believe). I titled this post the beginning of the end because I know that my days of competing as a professional at the top level of this sport are numbered. According to many, they have already passed. They may be right, but I believe I have one good season left in these old, pinned-together bones. This industry is as shallow as a shower, and someone my age with my results would be lucky to a free set of gear let alone some budget to go racing these days. I am fortunate that I have forged a few strong relationships, and enough people still believe in me that I can make a go of 2012 on an actual current year bike.

I was prompted to begin blogging again after going through old papers and photographs in a marathon organization session yesterday. I came across some printouts of my old website, TeamSolitaire.com, which chronicled my day-to-day training and personal life. I enjoyed reading it, and seemingly so did the thousands of people who frequented the site. Team Solitaire was huge back then, not just because of my results but because of the "do it yourself" attitude and against-all-odds mentality. Well this season is definitely going to be against all odds, and if I am going to do anything I will have to do it myself. No matter what anybody says about me, I believe in me. I believe I can have a successful season and live my life on my terms. That is what I am setting out to do.

Today wasn't exactly day one of training, I have been pretty focused for the last couple of months. I swam just over a mile this morning at the local country club (which, btw I do not belong to but has lackluster security in the pool area). I don't condone this type of behavior, mind you, but I am broke and I need large amounts of water to navigate. My fitness is pretty good right now, but it needs to be amazing.

I am actually still sore from my Saturday morning training up in Iron Mountain, Michigan. I ran the local ski area, Pine Mountian, which dons a giant ski jump that stretches up toward the clouds in an impressive manner. I ended up traversing it three times, top to bottom, which left my calf muscles feeling balled up and barely functional.

And thus my morning concludes at Starbucks with my amazing gestational partner and a Artisan Breakfast Sandwich. This day is far from over, as I have some afternoon activities planned, including an indoor soccer game and my son's Karting practice. Check back often or follow this blog as I will be posting a lot of useless (and useful) information here. RC